Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1887-11-10

Few possessions are more universally
valued and wished for than strength,
but IL Is not 90 generally considered
that only through long, patient and
continuous exert can ii be obtained.
1t is thought Of rather as an accident,
or native gift, to be passively CRATE
full for, than as natural and certain
result of toll and striving. We con-
graduate the strong man on his strength
but rarely praise or ilonor nina on that
account; We pity the weak man for his
weakness, but it would seem cruel to
mingle blame or reproOf with our pity.
| Yet the truth is that human strength
can be earned through human energy.
| It IL not always a gift which nature
showers upon SUmo ard denies to others,
but often a gradual development IN the
individual, going on in accordance with
the active efforts and earnest struggles
which he puts forth from day to day.
Take bodily strength for example;
the infant gains II through CONSTANT
motion, the boy through active play,
the man through toll and tug and bur
den. Let these cease and strength will
cease developing: let them be relaxed
it will decline. No one can have the
strength to take long walks and hard
climbs who does not put forth III active
efforts, from time to time, whatever
force he has. No one has the strength
to endure unusual toll and hardship
who has not struggled manfully in past
conflicts. Bodily idleness as inevitably
results III bodily weakness. The day is
happily well nigh past when women
prided themselves upon their physical
frailty; but many still continue to be
feeble and call it their misfortune, when
quito often it is only the necessary con-
sequence Of langlhd tnaotiop,
This Is equally manifest in the men'
tai condition. The strong mind is one
which has accumulated power through
hard mental activity. Much earnest
study, much effort of thought, many a
tnss!e with self-indulgence and love of
ease, many struggle with difficulties
and obstacles, have combined to give it
that vigorous force and elasticity which
10 to its possessor so valuable boon.
We look with pleasure upoii mo man
thus favored We admire his clear
thought, his sound judgment, his keen
discrimination; we envy the ease with
which he detects the point of an argu-
ment or solves an intricate question,
or applies a principle; but we do not
see, and seldom even imagine, what toll
and patience may have been the source
Of this mental strength. On the other
hand, the man who has never learned
to control his thoughts and compel
them to work, who has shrunk from
difficulty, and INDUCED i'll lazy and idle
reverie, must expect to be weakmind-
ed; he. has denied to his intellect the
very food which it needs to build it up
and strengthen it, OF coure there are
few exceptionally gifted persons, to
whom this exertiOn is only pleasure,
but most of us must learn our strength
of mind by much steadfast toll and
some self-denial
Moral strength also is gained chiefly
through struggles of the moral nature
Every time temptation is resisted, an
evil inclination conquered, a duty per
formed, moral strength is accumulated
The one whom all men honor for his
virtue and integrity, to whom wrong
doing seems to offer no attraction, ano
who performs each duty as it arises, ap
parently without an effort, has not
gained this power by treading fowery
beds of ease. 1t has come to hin
through effort and sacrifice, and the
more it has cost the greater the reward
The poor weak victim of temptation
and indulgence, who is powerless to
deny his appetite, or subdue a craving
or to resist the persuasion of an evil
companion, is indeed to be pitied, but
his deplorable condition is due to long
years OF moral idleness, during which
lie has drifted into evil, instead of hay:
ing stemmed the current and resolutely
pressed forward in the opposite direc-
ton.
If this is Soft strength is only to be
obtained through effort-it may change
the aspect of some things we are accus-
toned to look upon as only calamities
I